Real or Fake?

Like most men I don't care. However, if I am hitting on you and you think they are horrible, I will quickly agree with you.

Mostly unprocessed ("real"), fresh, additive free foods for me due to a medical condition that is very sensitive to certain ingredients, esp. artificial sweeteners, preservatives, added vitamins (esp. Bs and C), caffeine, carbonation, coffee/tea/sodas, alcohol, chocolate, vinegar and other acids of all types, most fruits, yellow #5, etc.

These items set my bladder, and therefore other lady parts due to proximity and shared nerve supply, on holy hell fire if I consume them...usually within 1 hour of ingestion, and the fire can last up to two weeks. It is a medical condition called Interstitial Cystitis, it is chronic, and incurable, and very, very painful. Eliminating the foods that are most likely to irritate a wounded bladder has completely changed my life for the better. I still have pain, but it is much more tolerable due to changing my diet, taking some medications, some alternative treatments, and altering my physical endeavors (for instance, I haven't mountain biked in years, but am going to try again soon).

If I had my choice, I'd eat a variety of everything in moderation. However, I only have a choice of being in pain or not. Not being in pain is always preferable.

I prefer the real stuff... Real cream, real milk, butter, yogurt, cheese. If I'm going to spend the calories on it, I would like to enjoy it!

I thought there would be boobs here.

+1

Me three.

While I don't prefer to categorize food as real or fake, I do have several preferences, some based on taste, availability, or macro-matching:

I like butter, but not margarine (taste is everything here, to me)
I prefer full-fat cheeses (exception--part skim mozzarella--the predominant option at my store)
I like fat free Greek yogurt (I can't tell the difference, and the store brand, which is cheaper, only comes in 0% fat)
I like low fat (1% or 2%) milk--I don't use cream/creamer in my coffee
I like Diet Pepsi (not a frequent soda drinker, and I don't like working regular soda into my macros)
I use honey, sugar, or Stevia/Splenda in recipes--depends on the recipe and my calorie goal whether I use real or artificial sweetener

Real.

Most of the time the calorie/fat difference is negligible.

I'm not a fan of artificial sweetener so when it comes down to that it's real all the time.

I used to do skim milk, then went to 1% and now I use raw milk. So much better.

I also used to do fat free feta, then went to reduced fat and now I use the full fat version and it is so much better and the calorie/fat content difference isn't that huge.

I will never ever eat margarine. Eeeeew! Butter all the way! (except for my corn then I use the fake butter spray because it's way easier)

Honestly I can't really think of any "fake" food that I have in my house.

It depends

MY PERSONAL OPINIONS:

I always prefer "real" over fake.

I loathe the taste of sugar substitutes (including Stevia....) with the exception of agave nectar and honey...which are not low-cal so, lol...

I can't stand margarine or "buttery spreads." I want the real deal, or nothing.

I once experimented with a "healthy" cheesecake, from the What to Eat While You're Expecting Book. The subtitle under that recipe should be "If you're not throwing up from morning sickness, this recipe will help you perform this standard pregnancy activity."

I do not like foods that are heavily processed (thus containing lots of synthetically produced chemicals and additives that don't normally occur in nature, and also containing waaaaaay more sodium than I could ever want to add to anything). I avoid most canned and boxed foods apart from staples (plain brown rice, etc.) for this reason. When it comes to tuna I have to find the low sodium variety because I hate too much sodium. I avoid food made with high fructose corn syrup, because I don't like it. Therefore, I'm pretty much stuck with fresh fruits/veggies, meats, dairy, and my dry/canned goods are usually organic (organic bread or spaghetti sauce for instance) to avoid HFCS.

If I'm going to treat myself, it has to taste good. About the ONLY "diet" food I actually like to eat because they taste darn good are the Weight Watchers popsicles. I don't know what's in them, probably don't want to know.

While this may seem restrictive I have benefitted greatly from eating only "real" or "closest to its natural form" stuff for the most part - I no longer have diarrhea every other day, and I'm not overcome with flatulence. TMI? Maybe...but it works for me. I feel better than I have in YEARS since doing this.

It depends on what it is. I prefer real sugar in my coffee, but stevia in my tea. Some things I don't mind the low-calorie "fake" stuff, other things I will only eat the "real" stuff. Of course, in my opinion, if I can put it in my mouth and eat it - it's real.




And, I prefer real boobs, but fake will do if they are done well. :smokin:

I am really mindful of where I get my foods anymore - ironically more so now that we are away from our farm.
Not what stores market and say but where they come from. I try to avoid exotics extracts and spices, generally, they are not being harvested mindfully. How does that matter about the synthetic vs. real? Meh - maybe not much but I keep it in mind, to me is is just as important question to understand the logistics of the food as it is putting real vs. synthetic in my body. The peace of mind that there is no more suffering than needed from my consumption of food seems to be important to my goals now.

No refined sugar, no grains. mostly raw foods. I grow what I can and will be growing more soon as I add a greenhouse to my home in the fall of '15. I eat protein mindfully. For me that means I either know who hunted it, hunted it myself, or know the farm that it was raised at and treated humanely. Yes this is possible! We live in Houston but we have a farm in Tennessee that is organic and cruelty free - sheep and eggs (and Guinea Foul if you are inclined to go catch one). I don't eat animals that are so small that I am taking several lives to eat a meal. No shrimp, among others. I still eat crickets and a few things like that - lol yes I said crickets.

Hope that helped.